ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Short Interest Update

ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, a growth of 28.3% from the April 30th total of 1,520,000 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 910,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ICL. Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 20,551,025 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $101,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,606,357 shares during the last quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD raised its holdings in ICL Group by 106.0% in the 4th quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD now owns 4,579,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $22,584,000 after buying an additional 2,356,324 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in ICL Group by 120.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,153,799 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,635,000 after buying an additional 2,267,245 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its holdings in ICL Group by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 16,479,059 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $81,334,000 after buying an additional 2,161,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in ICL Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $9,424,000. Institutional investors own 13.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ICL has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of ICL Group from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ICL Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

ICL Group Price Performance

ICL Group stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $6.66. 855,620 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 825,698. The company has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. ICL Group has a twelve month low of $3.79 and a twelve month high of $7.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $6.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.84.

ICL Group (NYSE:ICL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. ICL Group had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 8.31%. Equities analysts expect that ICL Group will post 0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ICL Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.0426 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a boost from ICL Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. ICL Group's dividend payout ratio is 51.61%.

ICL Group Company Profile

ICL Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty minerals and chemicals company worldwide. It operates in four segments: Industrial Products, Potash, Phosphate Solutions, and Growing Solutions. The Industrial Products segment produces bromine out of a solution that is a by-product of the potash production process, as well as bromine-based compounds; produces various grades of potash, salt, magnesium chloride, and magnesia products; and produces and markets phosphorous-based flame retardants and other phosphorus-based products.